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Happy Birthday to Me! (A Reflection on 28)

Well, another year in my life will be in the history books in just a few short hours. There were a lot of ups and downs, a lot of struggles, and some awesome victories. I decided that tonight I would look at a few different aspects of my life that are important to me and grade them based on how I think I did in these certain areas. I am going to be honest about how I did and look at it in a redemptive way, and then come up with some ideas on how I can improve in these general areas. So, without further ado, here are the topics:

Spiritual walk

Prayer Life

Family and Friends

Financial

Health

Spiritual Walk C

I feel like this past year I did some growing spiritually, but I also know that I did seem to slide on my daily readings and my worship if God. I allowed myself to get wrapped up in the work aspect of church. Like I wrote about last week, I would go several days sometimes without touching my Bible. That being said, I did feel like I grew in my relationship with Christ, just nowhere near where I wanted to. This next year I plan on studying more, and allowing God to work more in me. I plan on spending more time in prayer and more time focusing on God. I will continue to do videos and do my regular church activities that I enjoy, but I will be sure that I also make sure that I am doing it for God’s glory and not my own. Another thing I am going to do is have a worship time everyday. I will take about 30-45 minutes in the morning before work, listen to some awesome music and do some reading and praying. I think this will really help me to start the day off with a bang and keep me amped up all day long.

Prayer Life C

This is an aspect of my life that I really want to improve on. I don’t spend enough time speaking to God. I have this great opportunity to communicate with my creator and I really want to take advantage of that. I know that my trend is to try and do things on my own, but I am beginning to realize that prayer really helps to remove the tension and stress that I carry and allows me to give it to God. I also realize that I have ADHP. (Attention Deficit Hyperactive Prayer) I am learning how to pray more effectively. One plus this year is that I did pray a lot about my new job and kept asking God to open and close the doors. I made it all about Him and I feel like He has blessed me with this amazing job I now have. I plan this next year to be better at prayer and to listen to God’s response.

Family and Friends A

This has been a wonderful year for family and friends. My dad and I have continued to grow and I have such a wonderful relationship with him. I am so blessed to have him around and he has taught me a lot about what a Godly man is supposed to look and act like. My Mom’s side of the family, I feel like things are going pretty well. Friend wise, this has been an amazing year. I added 2 friends to my list of best friends this year. I haven’t had a lot of male friends that I was very close to, but this year that has all changed with the addition of Peter Wilson and D.J. Iverson. These 2 guys have really had a profound influence in my life, both spiritually and mentally. I can’t express how wonderful it is to have friends that are into the arts and music like Peter and D.J.

Financial C

Originally, I was going to give myself a D in the financial realm, but with my new job I feel like I ended my 28th year on a positive note, kind of like making an A on the Final to bring your final grade up. It was an extremely tough year for me financially, as was the case with most people. My job at RBI was difficult and didn’t produce a lot of financial gain. I felt like I was working hard but not receiving a lot of reward for it. I basically limped my way through the last 6 months or so. One thing I did learn during this time it that God comes up with extremely unique ways of showing me that He is in control and that He will provide. With my new job, I finally am at a place where I don’t have to worry about how I am going to pay for bills, put gas in my car, and put food on the table. I can finally begin to save and contribute more to my church, which really excites me.

Health D

This has been a rough topic for me to talk about. It seems as if every year I continue to struggle with this. I thought after last year that I would finally get rid of this weight, but I didn’t. I stopped working out, and I started eating bad things again. This is going to be a major theme for me this year to get rid of my excess weight. I do not want to go into my thirties with this extra weight on my body. Some plans I have for this is getting up early and working out before work and also cutting our fast food for lunch during the work week and limiting it to an occasional weekend. I also plan on eating more at home, which will also save money.

So there you have it. As you can see, I have a lot of progress to make. I did make some wonderful strides and I plan to ride these into year 29. I pray that God will continue to work in my life and help me to make the changes necessary to be an effective disciple. May God bless you as well and I can’t wait to start my 29th year with you all.